Finding Natchez and Jackson locations in the new movie “Get On Up,” which opened last Friday, will be flashing fun for viewers, but there could be a long-term impact, both on the screen and on the ground.

Mississippi Film Office deputy director Nina Parikh said the movie, directed by Tate Taylor and starring Chadwick Boseman, shows the potential for boundary-busting when it comes to location filming in the state.

“The most interesting thing about ‘Get On Up’ is that none of the movie takes place in Mississippi. None of it,” Parikh said. “So, we’re standing in for all kinds of places, like Augusta, Georgia, Paris, Boston, New York.

“So, that’s a really good thing for us, to get beyond just being Mississippi,” she said. In building the film industry here, Mississippi has played itself or at least the South.

“We’re definitely taking a great step in being able to represent other parts of the world,” including a big city. “It’ll be great for the bigger industry to see that in ‘Get On Up,’ that we were able to portray something outside of Mississippi and the traditional South.”

Stars aren’t the only ones getting screen time in movies. Closeups of locales can refresh interest in spots locals might have taken for granted. That’s part of what boosted traffic at Brent’s Drugs after the release of “The Help,” another Tate Taylor-directed film, based on Kathryn Stockett’s novel and actually set in Jackson.

“It was phenomenal for us,” Brent’s owner Brad Reeves said, with support not just from out-of-towners, but also from Jackson-area folks who hadn’t been by for a while. “It was kind of a reminder that Brent’s was there and ‘Hey, I need to go.’” That fed into more visits and bringing friends from out of town.

“You could drive by other locations where they filmed, like in Fondren, but at Brent’s you could actually go experience the same restaurant they ate in, in the movie. So, I think for a restaurant, it is unique, in that you are kind of participating in the set, I guess.”

The Elite Restaurant’s Chuck Odom hopes for some of the same for the historic downtown restaurant used as a location in “Get On Up.” “When a movie comes out where part of it was filmed in somebody’s location, hope then becomes a strategy. I hope that they will see it and recognize the restaurant. That’s our strategy,” he said, chuckling.

Brian Hilburn of Clinton, an assistant location manager for “Get On Up” and now location manager on “The Hollars,” said Mississippi’s wide range of locations “can give backrops for just about anything except for mountains, desert areas, but we’ve got just about everything else you need, certainly when compared to some of our neighboring states.”

About two-thirds of “Get On Up” was shot in Natchez and a third in Jackson. The Apollo Theater scene is one to note, Hilburn said, shot on Capitol Street at Farish with computer-generated material to create the extra elements. “They hung a sign — a part of a marquee — there for the scene and then they built the rest of it later as computer-generated effects, the snow and all those things” in post-production. And yes, Capitol Street was all torn up at the time.

Madison Square Garden scenes were filmed in the Mississippi Coliseum. Concert scenes were done at Thalia Mara Hall and an auditorium in Natchez. What’s where was a challenge even for him at the screening. “We had so many locations, just trying to remember where everything was when I saw it. ... there were a couple of times I had to stop and go, wait a second, where in the world was that?”

A self-guided tour map in Natchez now in the works will be able to tell visitors about that city’s locations in the movie. Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau spokeswoman Yolanda Clay-Moore said the Jackson CVB is discussing the possibility of the same.

Greenwood had a tour of locations after “The Help” premiered; the Greater Jackson Neighborhood Foundation and Jackson CVB developed a driving tour in Jackson after the book “The Help” came out, in response to book club queries.

For now, viewers can see how movie magic transforms their home state. But, too, they’ll “absolutely” recognize some of the spots, such as Dunleith Plantation in Natchez, Hilburn said.